Shivani Gadhavi-
Published on: December 06, 2021 at 22: 10 IST
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court found a man guilty under Section 306 (Abetment to Suicide) of the Indian Penal Code. This was in modification of an order during the revision proceedings of a case in which a woman committed suicide and poisoned her baby in 2003.
The case is in regards with the accused Nagarajan outraging the modesty of a woman in Dindigul, city of Tamil Nadu in the year 2003, when the woman was putting her baby to sleep, when the mother-in-law of the woman saw him, he fled. On the next day, the woman being full of shame poisoned her baby and committed suicide.
In 2015, the Dindigul Mahila Court acquitted Nagarajan of Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code but convicted him under Sections 354 and 448 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him for 3 years for outraging the modesty of the woman and 3 months for trespassing.
Later on in 2015, Nagarajan had filed a criminal appeal before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court challenging the order of the Dindigul Mahila Court. During the consideration of the plea, the Court found that the Mahila Court wrongfully acquitted Nagarajan under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code.
The Court took cognizance under a report submitted by Amicus-curiae and stated, “The high court as an effective instrument in the administration of criminal justice is duty bound to suo motu act where there is flagrant abuse of law. The nature of the offence and manner of disposal by the trial court has prompted this court to take up the suo motu criminal revision petition for the ultimate social good of the community.”
The Court convicted Nagarajan under Section 306 and 448 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him for 5 years of rigorous imprisonment for abetment of suicide and 3 months of imprisonment for house trespass.